• President Trump will host only Republican governors at the annual White House meeting tied to the National Governors Association winter summit
• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also had dinner invitations revoked without explanation from the White House
• The NGA declared the White House session will no longer be recognized as an official association event

WASHINGTON, DC (TDR) — The National Governors Association confirmed that President Donald Trump will exclude all Democratic governors from the annual White House working session scheduled for Feb. 19-21, breaking a tradition that has spanned administrations from both parties. The decision marks a sharp departure from the governors meeting tradition that has historically served as one of Washington’s few remaining forums for bipartisan federal-state collaboration.

The White House will still host a separate dinner for governors and their spouses, but even that event saw selective exclusions. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis both confirmed their dinner invitations were revoked without explanation — a move that drew bipartisan criticism and prompted the NGA to strip the White House events of official association sponsorship.

NGA Leadership Responds to Governors Meeting Exclusion

Brandon Tatum, the NGA’s acting executive director and CEO, issued a pointed statement characterizing the decision as a setback for intergovernmental cooperation.

“The bipartisan White House governors meeting is an important tradition, and we are disappointed in the administration’s decision to make it a partisan occasion this year.”

“To disinvite individual governors to the White House sessions undermines an important opportunity for federal-state collaboration. At this moment in our nation’s history, it is critical that institutions continue to stand for unity, dignity and constructive engagement.”

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The NGA went further than verbal criticism. According to an internal email obtained by Politico, the organization’s leadership declared the White House meeting will no longer appear on its official schedule, and no NGA resources will be used to support transportation for the event. That decision effectively downgrades the gathering from an institutional tradition to a partisan White House function.

Moore and Polis Push Back on Dinner Exclusions

Moore, who serves as the NGA’s vice chair and is set to become chair later this year, said the exclusion was particularly confounding given recent collaboration with the administration. He noted that just weeks earlier, he had led a bipartisan group of governors to the White House to work with Trump on lowering energy costs.

“This week, I learned that I was uninvited to this year’s National Governors Association dinner — a decades-long annual tradition meant to bring governors from both parties together to build bonds and celebrate a shared service to our citizens with the President of the United States.”

“My peers, both Democrats and Republicans, selected me to serve as the Vice Chair of the NGA, another reason why it’s hard not to see this decision as another example of blatant disrespect and a snub to the spirit of bipartisan federal-state partnership.”

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Moore, the nation’s only Black governor, also acknowledged that his exclusion carries additional weight.

“As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not.”

Asked directly on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he believed race was a factor, Moore stopped short of a direct accusation but did not dismiss the possibility.

“Well, I don’t know. I can’t speak to the president’s intent. It’s not lost on me, but I can’t speak to the president’s intent.”

Polis’ office offered a measured response. Spokesperson Ally Sullivan called the move a disappointing decision for a traditionally bipartisan event, noting that Polis has consistently worked across the aisle regardless of which party occupies the White House. The Trump administration has repeatedly pressured Polis over his refusal to release Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk convicted on state felony charges related to tampering with voting systems in connection with false claims about the 2020 election. Trump pardoned Peters on federal grounds, but his pardon power does not extend to state convictions. In December, Trump called Polis a “scumbag” on Truth Social and told him to “rot in Hell.”

Trump and Moore have also clashed repeatedly, particularly over the president’s threat to deploy the National Guard to Baltimore and his criticism of Maryland’s efforts to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Trump has characterized Baltimore as “crime ridden,” though the city is currently experiencing its lowest homicide rate in 50 years.

White House Defends the Governors Meeting Decision

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on the criticism, framing the controversy as manufactured.

“These are White House events and the President can invite whomever he wants. With that being said, the White House has been coordinating meetings with the President, cabinet secretaries, and Democrat governors for more than a week. Democrats were invited to the dinner at the White House. This is a non-story.”

The White House did not explain why Moore and Polis were specifically excluded from the dinner while other Democrats — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both of whom have openly clashed with the administration — reportedly received dinner invitations. Pritzker’s office said the governor was not planning to attend regardless, citing ongoing disputes over immigration enforcement actions in Illinois.

Democratic Governors Rally Around Excluded Colleagues

The fallout expanded beyond Moore and Polis. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, appearing on ABC’s “The View” on Monday, announced he would boycott the dinner in solidarity.

“No, I ain’t going. Wes is a friend of mine. Even if he wasn’t a friend of mine, this would be wrong — and Jared as well — but the other thing that’s going on is they didn’t invite any Democratic governor to the business section.”

Multiple Democratic officials told CNN that several governors were re-evaluating their attendance after Moore and Polis were disinvited from the dinner. Moore secured a commitment from the NGA that the organization would not sponsor the dinner as an official event.

“If the president wants to have a black-tie dinner with his friends on that night, that is fine, it will not be an NGA event. This is a bipartisan organization where Democratic and Republican governors come together to work on addressing the needs of our people.”

The internal NGA dynamics add another layer of tension. Illinois is among several states that have stopped paying dues to the association, arguing it failed to speak out against the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to states without gubernatorial coordination.

A Tradition Under Pressure

The annual NGA winter gathering has long functioned as a policy-focused meeting where governors from both parties discuss shared challenges — from disaster preparedness to education reform — directly with the sitting president. Last year’s gathering produced a tense exchange between Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who pushed back on the president’s claims about executive orders and ended the conversation with “See you in court.”

The decision to convert the working session into a Republican-only event arrives amid escalating tensions between the federal government and Democratic-led states over immigration enforcement, National Guard deployments and federal funding disputes. The NGA meetings are scheduled for Feb. 19-21, and the association’s leadership has made clear that whatever takes place at the White House will operate outside the organization’s bipartisan framework.

Does excluding governors from opposing parties from traditional White House gatherings strengthen a president’s agenda, or does it weaken the federal-state partnerships that both parties have historically relied on to govern effectively?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from ABC News’ reporting on the governors meeting exclusion, CNN’s coverage of Democratic governors being disinvited, The Washington Post’s reporting on the White House decision, The Hill’s interview with Gov. Moore, reporting by Fox 5 DC, WTOP News, CBS News Baltimore, The Daily Record, Newsweek’s coverage of Moore’s response, and News From The States.

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